A chara, – As regards Sean Glynn's problems with signage translated into Irish (June 11th), it must be said that not all his examples are that intolerable. The "daddy of them all", as he says, above the X-ray department in the Bon Secours in Galway is quite acceptable as a piece of Scottish Gaelic. "Gaillimh Thiar" and "Gaillimh Siar" are both correct, but don't mean exactly the same thing. Taking a longer linguistic perspective, both "Bóthar Átha an Rí" and "Bóthar Átha na Rí" are both all right, depending on whether we speak in the singular or the plural.
The attitude of many sign painters and that of their advisers, when given an Irish job, seems to be “throw in a síneadh fada if in doubt”, but even so, I shall leave to those of your readers who are well read in the variety of nominal compounds in Irish to decide on the merits of “Séan Nós”. – Is mise,
LIAM Ó MURCHÚ,
Bóthar an Tóchair,
Corcaigh.